


As a Team

by Kamigwen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Shiro is protective, everyone is sad, hurt!keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 10:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14162703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamigwen/pseuds/Kamigwen
Summary: The battle against the Galra was rough, nothing going as planned, and to make it worse, the battle had split up Shiro’s team





	1. Chapter 1

        The battle against the Galra was rough, nothing going as planned, and to make it worse, the battle had split up Shiro’s team. The original plan of the attack was to sneak into the base, have Pidge hack into the system and get the necessary information, before they hightailed it out of there. But, as soon as Pidge hacked the system, it set off a intrusion alarm and the trap set for the paladins was sprung. Out of seemingly nowhere, hundreds of Galra soldiers swarmed into the base, surrounding the team and cutting off all exits. At first, it seemed hopeless, until the Red Lion, called by Keith, crashed through the wall. Against Shiro’s direct orders of staying with the team, Keith jumped out in front of the Galra and raced to the Red Lion, using it as a distraction to allow the rest of the paladins to escape as he raced off into the blizzard that covered the planet.

        Keith’s plan, despite the odds, worked for the most part. With his distractions, the rest of the Paladins were able to escape on the Green Lion, but, he wasn’t able to make it back. When he attempted to flee the battle, the Red Lion got grounded and Keith was forced to engage in hand to hand combat, where he soon became severely wounded. Unable to get free, the Red Paladin remained trapped on the frozen planet, wounded and fighting for his life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Keith watched his frozen breath float into the air as the final Galra soldier fall to the ground, his hand pressed firmly onto his side to try and stop the blood flowing from the wound. His breathing was heavy as he leaned against the leg of the Red Lion, his eyes staring up at the gray sky. The Red Lion, concerned for it’s paladin, lowered its head and let out a low rumble. It wanted to try and get him inside so he wouldn’t freeze to death, staring at the bleeding Paladin.

        The raven haired male watched his lion nudge him forward, a small smile on his face as he whispered “Alright...alright…” Slowly and painfully, he walked into the warm interior of the Red Lion, using the wall for support as he walked towards the cockpit. Sliding into the seat, he stared out into the snow, sighing “Sorry guys...I might not make it back…” Slowly, he leaned forward and pressed a few button on the controls, and took note of what was forcing the red lion to stay grounded.

        Apparently the Galra had made some type of net that had fried the lion’s flying mechanics, and with the Red Lion being a sentient being, it refused to take off and potentially harm it’s paladin. “Alright...well..activate communications.” At first, nothing happened, a screen saying communications were down, until a message showed up. Keith read what it said and laughed slightly “Alright fine. Record Message.”

        The message Keith had to send wasn’t very long, just something simple that needed to be sent. Once he was finished, he collapsed into the seat. He could tell his vision was fading with his strength quickly, his dark eyes looking up at the interior of his lion. “I guess this is it girl..” The Red Lion let out a low purr like nose, not wanting to hear it’s paladin say goodbye again. “I wish this didn’t have to be our final fight...but I guess it was. At least...it was a good one..” As his eyes slowly closed, he whispered “I hope the others...can find you..” With a shaky sigh, he fell to unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Back at the castle of lions, the rest of the Paladins were in a panic trying to find their lost teammate, everyone working to attempt to get a signal from the blizzard that the planet had. The castle slowly floated around the planets orbit, giving those inside a view of the planet’s atmosphere. Shiro, the Black Paladin and leader of the team, paced back and forth constantly, his hands clasped behind his back.

        Princess Allura stood at the controls of the castle, running all of the scanners she could, Pidge, the small Green Paladin, was doing all she could to amply the range and strength of the scanners, as well as keeping an eye on any attempted communications. Lance and Hunk, the Blue and Yellow Paladins, simply stood off in the back, watching their leader pace. No one said anything for a while, until Hunk finally spoke up “How do we even know that Keith is still on the planet? What...what if he was captured by the Galra and-” “And has been killed?”

        Everyone in the team went silent as they all turned to look at Allura, who held her hands up quickly in defense. “What! It was either they killed him or he has been captured and brainwashed!” While no one wanted to admit it, what she was very true. There was the chance of both despite how sad it was. Shiro didn’t care though. He stopped his pacing and glared at the Princess, quickly snapping “That’s outrageous. There is no way Keith would allow himself to be caught let alone killed!”

        All of the Paladins stared at Shiro in shock when he suddenly snapped, no one saying a word. The leader of the team was normally so calm and collected, so seeing him like this wasn’t a normal sight, and it honestly worried the team. After Shiro realized his actions, he let out a frustrated and sad sigh as he sunk down into a chair “S-Sorry Princess...I didn’t mean to snap...it’s just Keith is like a little brother to me, and the thought of his being dead or captured just…” Allura shook her head and smiled softly “I understand Shiro, I shouldn’t have said what I did, I had forgotten how close you two are. Look, why don’t you go take a moment, we will let you know if we find anything.”

        Shiro didn’t reply for a moment, running his metal arm through the small white tuft of hair. Slowly he stood to leave when the smallest paladin Pidge suddenly exclaimed “Hold on! I think I’m getting a message!” As soon as she said that, the whole team raced over to her chair, Lance asking “Is it from Keith?” Pidge shook her head as she quickly pressed buttons “I’m not sure! Let me try to strengthen the signal!” Using complicated Altean programs, Pidge managed to increase the signal strength, and soon enough, a hologram of Keith appeared before the team. Upon seeing the state the red paladin was in made Shiro’s throat tighten. He saw all of the blood and wounds that covered Keith’s body, and the pit that was in his stomach seemed to grow larger.

        He was pulled from his thoughts however, when the message began to play. It started off with Keith taking a deep, painful breath before he said “I really hope this thing is working. If it is, I hope it made it to the paladins of Voltron. If you guys are seeing this...I am probably dead, killed from either freezing or bleeding out. Not a nice thought, I know but it's fact. So, I've made this message for two reasons, one, to say goodbye. This isn’t going to be soppy and full of emotions, but I still figured it would be the best thing to do.” Pausing for a moment, the projection flicked as he flinched in pain “I wanted to say...thanks...thank you guys for becoming a group of people I could rely on...a group of people that if I can call family..I..I wish I could be there in person to say this, but, we can’t control fate can we? Ha…”

        Taking another deep breath, Keith seemed to speed up his talking “The other reason of this message is to give you guys the coordinates of the Red Lion, so that way you can find her and keep her out of Zarkon’s hands….I..I don’t have much time left….good..bye..” The image suddenly cut off, leaving the team in shocked silence at their friends final words, unable to speak before a small sound pulled Pidge’s attention. Flashing on her screen was two messages, one being the coordinates of the Red Lion, and the other alerting the castle that the Red Lion was sending a critical distress beacon.

        She instantly went to work, entering the coordinates into the castles computer, before a red flashing dot appeared on the map of the the planet. As soon as Shiro saw the signal, he ordered “Pidge send me those coordinates to the Black Lion, I’m going down to get him.” He turned on his heel to leave when Lance stopped him “Shiro, what if it isn’t him? You always tell us to carefully assess a situation before jumping in head first!”

        The Black Paladin didn’t reply for a minute, his dark eyes staring into Lance’s brown ones. They stayed like this until Shiro said “I know I do, but right now, we can’t take that chance.” Pulling his arm away, he finished his sentence “I’m going down and getting my paladin, dead or alive.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Soon enough, The Black lion shot out of the castle, flying down into the planet’s atmosphere. As he broke through the blizzard, his radio filled with what sounded like a loud wail/roar. “Pidge what was that?!” Shiro asked as he maneuvered through the snow storm, Pidge soon replying “That..was the Red Lion’s distress call.” “The Lions never use that call unless their paladin is in extreme danger..Shiro please hurry!” After Allura jumped in, Shiro didn’t need anything else to tell him to fly faster.

        After flying for half an hour through harsh snow, a outline of red could finally be seen on the horizon, and Shiro quicly alerted the castle “I have eyes on the Red Lion! Make sure that a cryo-replenishers is getting repaired ASAP!” Without waiting for a reply, the Black Lion landed and Shiro reached out into the deep snow. Instantly he began calling out, trying to find his missing ally. Noticing that the Red Lion was able to be entered, Shiro raced in and called “Keith!? Keith where are you!? Keith!”

        Upon entering the metal interior of the Red Lion, Shiro shivered as the cold air seemed to seep through his armor. Strangely enough, the Red Lion felt colder inside than outside, and Shiro had no idea why. But he didn’t dwell on it to much when he arrived at the sealed door to the pilot's control room. He made his way over and pushed the buttons to open the door, but when the door refused to open, he knew he had to force his way in. Using the strength of his Galra hand, he slowly forced the door open, blasted by a wave of cold air. Once the door was open, Shiro walked in only to freeze in his spot.

        Slumped over in the chair, covered in frost and blood, sat Keith, his eyes closed and his skin pale. The Black Paladin did not speak as he quickly made his way over, placing his fingers on Keith’s neck to check for a pulse. When he didn’t feel anything, Shiro cursed under his breath and carefully pulled the wounded Red Paladin into his arms. He couldn’t tell if Keith was dead or alive from how cold he was, and knew he needed to warm him as soon as he could. Racing out of the Red Lion, Shiro carried Keith back to the Black Lion where he carefully laid Keith on the floor. Once he was laying on his back, Shiro removed the glove on his left hand, trying once again to feel for some kind of pulse.

        After a few moments of nothing, Shiro was about to give up, when he felt something. It was faint, so faint it almost wasn’t there, but it was. Then it was gone. Instantly Shiro began CPR on Keith, saying out loud “Come on Keith! Don’t you are die on me! I won’t let you go! Don’t do this to me Keith!” As he frantically tried to revive his friend, the comms buzzed to life as Allura asked “Shiro!? Have you found him?” Shiro didn’t respond at first, pulling up to take a deep breath before continuing chest compressions “Yeah... I found him, he had a pulse but it’s gone. I’m trying to bring it back!”

        Pidge’s voice suddenly filled the comms with words that Shiro swore was the best thing he could ever hear “Shiro! Use your arm! One time while you were asleep I got bored and managed to make your arm be able to act like a defibrillator! It might make you a little fuzzy but the shock might be enough to bring back a decent pulse!” Shiro stopped in shock at the youngest paladin’s words, staring down at the unmoving body of the one person he cared for like a little brother. Then, at that moment, he didn’t care, he just wanted to see Keith breathing again. His metal arm glowed a bright purple, Shiro feeling the electricity course through it. Slowly, he reached down and placed his hand at the center of Keith’s chest, and as soon as it made contact, a powerful jolt sent Shiro flying backwards.

        Stunned for a moment, Shiro sat against the wall he hit, his vision blurry from the force of the shock. Then, he snapped out of it and crawled over to Keith. There was nothing, his chest didn’t even rise or fall from breathing and his heart was still. Tears slowly filled Shiro’s eyes as he whispered “No...no please no..” Slowly he placed both hands on either side of Keith’s cheeks, his dark eyes staring at the pale face of his fallen ally “Keith please...please don’t do this, you can’t die on us Keith. We need you, come on...damn it give me something!”

        As if his words were magic, Shiro suddenly felt a pulse. It was slow at first, before it got stronger and stronger, Keith loudly gasping for air. Shiro hovered above Keith stunned for a moment while he watched Keith’s dark gray eyes slowly open. “Sh..ir..o?” There it was, the voice that Shiro prayed he would be able to hear again spoke. Tears fell from his eyes as he quietly whispered “Shh, shh Keith, you’re gonna be fine. I’m here, we are gonna get you back to the castle, you’re gonna be fine.”

        Shiro stood from where he knelt and ran to the pilot's controls, quickly having the Black Lion take off carrying the Red Lion. As he did, he called through the comms “Princess please tell me you have a cryo-replenishers ready!” “Sadly Shiro we don’t, they got knocked out by a few rouge Galra ships, but we have plenty of medical supplies that can perhaps be of use!” Biting his lip, Shiro replied “Something is better than nothing!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        When the Black Lion landed in the castle, it was anything but gentle. The Red Lion crashed to the side as it fell from the Black Lions grip as the Black Lion itself crashed down. Thankfully neither Shiro or Keith got harmed (Or even more harmed), and soon, Shiro exited the Lion with Keith in his arms. He was greeted by the Princess and Corran waiting impatiently with a stretcher like bed, both waiting to assist the red paladin. Carefully laying him down, Shiro helped the two Alteans push Keith towards the infirmary, focused on saving the younger male. As they ran, Shiro heard Keith whisper confused “Shiro...where...am I..?” Shiro smiled slightly as he ran his hand gently over Keith’s forehead “don’t worry about that and relax, we’re gonna patch you up and then you'll be fine. Just rest.”

        Nodding slightly, Keith slowly fell back into unconsciousness, just before the three made it to the infirmary. Running in, the door behind them closed and cut them off to tend to their fallen friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Two hours Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Two hours after Keith was rushed to the infirmary, Allura and Corran managed to save Keith with the help of the doctor they saved for the Blades of Malmora. With him they managed to stabilize Keith and now he currently laid in the bed for his room, Shiro having not left his side for a moment. All he could think about was what the doctor told them. ‘Three broken ribs, two cracked...a broken tibia, shattered wrist...multiple wounds, large amount of internal bleeding...followed by blood loss. It’s a miracle he’s still alive...maybe the Red Lion froze itself to try and stasis him..’

        The older male let out an exhausted sigh as he gently brushed some of Keith’s black hair out of his face, making sure the oxygen mask he wore was working. Right now, the red paladin looked like a experiment with the multiple IV’s and wires that were connected to him, along with the bandages that covered his body. Slowly, Shiro wringed out the cloth that rested in the bowl besides the bed before dipping it into cold water to carefully wipe off the sweat that had formed. Then it happened.  

        The heart monitor suddenly began rapidly beeping, Keith’s chest rising as his body began seizing. Panic ran through Shiro as he leapt to hold Keith down, calling loudly “Someone! Help me! Something’s wrong with Keith!” Quick and frantic footsteps echoed down the hall outside of the room, the Doctor and the princess appearing to Shiro’s calls. Allura moved to help hold Keith down as the doctor moved to prepare something to stop the seizure. “Move!” The doctor ordered, preparing a syringe. Shiro quickly dodged to the side as the doctor injected the medicine that he made into Keith’s bloodstream. A few moments later, the seizure slowly stopped and the beeping heart monitor returned to normal.

        Shiro, after making sure Keith was alright, turned to the doctor and exclaimed “What was that!? I thought you said he was fine!” The doctor began checking the many medicines he gave Keith as he replied “I thought he was...oh dear...this isn’t good..” Allura walked over to him, anger flaring in her eyes as she said “What did you do. If he dies so help me.” The doctor raised his hand as he explained “My apologies princess. This is something that was out of my control. Your friend seems to have had an allergic reaction to one of the medicines. Thankfully we caught it early enough that it will not kill him, so I can prepare another.”

        The room was silent as the doctor took away the medicine that caused the reaction “Sadly, whatever is in his bloodstream will cause these seizures until his body manages to dispel the medicine on its own or is moved to one of your cryo-replenishers. Someone will need to stay with him at all times so he doesn’t hurt himself more. I can stay with him for now if you wish to plan out a schedule.” Shiro nodded and gently grabbed the princess’ arm, both of them walking out. Allura glanced over at the Black paladin with worried eyes, asking “Shiro what are we going to do? Corran and Pidge said they don’t when the cryo-replenishers will be completely repaired.” Taking a deep breath, Shiro sighed “We just work through it as a team. If we do that...everything should be fine, I hope.”


	2. Chapter 2

        The next day, after the status of Keith’s health had been told to Shiro and Allura, team voltron sat together in the kitchen, a gloomy feeling in the air. Hunk stood off to the side, halfheartedly stirring a mixture in a bowl, Pidge sitting near by playing with her  tools. Lance, Allura and Corran sat around the table, and Shiro leaned against the wall, staring off into space. No one said anything, the shock of the information settling heavy on their conscious. One of their own was laying in bed, having serious and painful spasms, attacks, because of the medicine used to save him. It was just surprising, frightening almost.

        Shiro finally had enough of the silence, clearing his throat to get everyone's attention. “Look...I know this, situation, seems pretty bad. With the cryo-replenishers broken, and Keith down for the count, I can understand that we’re all worried. But right now, we need to focus on helping as much as we can.” Pidge looked up from her small corner “Shiro, what can we do, It’s not like we can just go in there and take the medicine out, make him not allergic to it.” The Black Paladin calmly shook his head “I know that, but you and Corran can get to work on getting the cryo-replenishers fixed as soon as possible, while the rest of us take turn watching him. The doctor we rescued said that if he isn’t watched he can hurt himself more, and I doubt any of us want that. We’ll go by day, one person watching him over during that day with only small breaks. How does that sound?”

        Team Voltron glanced around at each other, obviously thinking the suggestion over, before Lance nodded “We’ll do it.” A smile tugged at the corner of Shiro’s mouth “Good. We’ll get through this guys. Together as a team.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Lance had, surprisingly enough, volunteered to take the first watch. Once the team dispersed, he had B-lined to Keith’s bedroom, where he would spend the rest of the day. He didn’t go inside right away however, needing a moment to mentally prepare himself. With a deep breath, he stepped inside the darkened room, looking around to see how things were set up. There was a few machines borrowed from the castle infirmary off to the side, a heart monitor beeping softly. There was a string of IV lines that Lance knew were connected to Keith, since he did still need to be hydrated while he was in his weird coma.

        Grabbing a nearby chair, Lance sat down at the bedside awkwardly, not really sure what he was going to do, besides ya know, stare at Keith all day. He noticed that the bandages on his chest were stained from the blood, needing to be changed. He quickly grabbed a roll of bandages left nearby for situations like this. Ever so carefully, Lance pulled away the dirty bandages, preparing himself to see the wounds on his ally. With the bandages pulled away, Lance’s breath caught in his throat while he saw a large gash go across Keith’s chest, held together by the stitches that bled slightly. The gash ran down to his right hip, where Lance assumed Keith had also been stabbed due to there being a large pad right at the end of his cut.

        The Blue Paladin shook his head, focusing on his task at hand. He cleaned away some of the dried blood before he re-wrapped the wounds, making sure that it wasn’t too tight but was tight enough to help stop some of the small bleeding. Now, he was sitting in silence, watching the rise and fall of Keith’s chest. “Man Mullet head, you seem to have talent for getting yourself in trouble,” Lance said, leaning back with his hands resting behind his head “It seems like every battle you’re always running off, doing something stupid and getting hurt because of it! If you keep this up, one of these days...one of..”

        His brown eyes darkened “One of these days we won’t be able to save you.” Lance nervously began messing with his fingers, now off on a non stop ramble “Ya know, I was really jealous of you. Being named second in command by Shiro I mean. I thought you were too much of a hot head for the job, but...I guess that’s what makes you so good at it. During yesterday's fight, I was so focused on fighting that I wasn’t thinking of our escape. But you were...You thought of a plan that actually worked, surprisingly enough.”

        Lance rose to his feet, pacing back and forth while he continued to ramble “It was a reckless plan that Shiro and EVERYONE else didn’t like, but you thought of it so quickly. You managed to get everyone out and make the mission mostly a success at the same time. Heh, never thought I’d say this but I kinda admired it.” He laughed to himself, realizing what he was saying “Dude, we butt heads a lot, but I have major respect for you. B-But don’t go thinking this makes you better than me got it!? You’re still a stupid mullet head….who is damn good at fighting..” Once again, Lance ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, a small sigh escaping his lips.

        For a few moments, Lance debated on calling Pidge to bring him a handheld or something to play, however, before he could decide, he heard the heart monitors beeping suddenly get louder. Catching his attention, Lance saw Keith’s hands had tightly gripped the sheets, and his breathing had increased in speed, a sign for the spams to come. In seconds, Lance was at Keith’s bedside holding down his arms to prevent him from pulling any of the IVs, and as he did this, Lance whispered sadly “Don’t worry buddy...we’ll get through this..”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        The next day, it was Hunk’s turn to watch over Keith, the yellow paladin sitting in the bedside chair. He fiddled with this thumbs, softly and awkwardly whistling. He looked around the room, before he cleared his throat. He opened his mouth for probably the tenth time that day, only to close it once more. It was a common occurrence since, well, he didn’t know what to say. “Man..I've been sitting here for hours...Do..Do I say something? But he wouldn’t really say anything back...so it would all be one sided, and I’m terrible at one sided conversations, because then I end up rambling off, get off track and...oh I did it again.”

        Running his hands over his face, Hunk groaned loudly, leaning back in the chair “AHH This is so hard!! How do you talk to someone who doesn't respond!! I mean..maybe I can just..tell him how things are?” With that new idea in his mind, Hunk looked over the unconscious Keith “So...OH! That’s right! I made a new recipe with the help of space goop! It’s actually really good! With everyone so down in the dumps, I wanted to try and make them smile even just a little bit, and guess what! It worked! Shiro actually smiled for the first time since we got back! It was big one to! I promise, as soon as you’re up and feeling better, I’ll make it just for you!”

        The smile that had formed on Hunk’s face slowly vanished when a sad sigh left his lips “You know...you’ve really got everyone worried sick,” He said, staring down at his hands sadly “With you so banged up, everyone feared you were dead, and now with the bad luck of you being allergic to the medicine, everyone’s terrified. I think the Princess and Pidge are taking it the hardest out of all of us. The Princess hasn’t said anything and Pidge is working day and night to fix the cryo-repelishers. I don’t think she’s even eaten really. Maybe I should bring her something tomorrow..what do you think?” Keith coughed briefly “Yeah you’re right. It is a good plan!”

        “Lance has ya know, been acting all Lance-like. He keeps making jokes and stuff, but everyone knows he’s just worried but doesn't want us to know. Corran...well he’s just being Corran, helping Pidge fix the pods up really quick! And...ah...Shiro’s got me worried man. Despite me trying to make him feel better, he’s kinda cut himself off from everyone..for the past two days he’s been confining himself in the training room, training himself non stop. I’m afraid he’s gonna get hurt. I..I think he’s doing it because he blames himself for not stopping you..”

        The Yellow paladin looked over his sleeping friend, taking a deep breath once again “I don’t know how to get him to stop...I tried to talk to him but he was too zoned out and focused to hear me. If you were awake, I bet you’d walk right up to him and tell him to knock it off, that it was your choice and he couldn’t do anything about it, but here you are, unable to do that. It was always you or the princess that seemed to be able to get through to him, but the princess is so out of it, I can’t talk to her..”

        He leaned back in his chair to look at the ceiling, watching the faint lights flicker some “It is amazing to me how close we’ve gotten with all our time being apart of voltron. When one of us seems to get hurt, yeah we can function, and yeah we can do our job, but our spirits are so low, that I don’t think we would be able to win a fight. We aren’t voltron without everyone, and I don’t just mean about having the giant fighting robot, I mean as a team all together…” Hunk’s brown eyes softened some, his large hand softly patting the top of Keith’s “Just...be sure to wake up soon buddy...we miss you..”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Yet another day had passed, with no sign of Keith’s status improving, this time it was the princess’ turn to watch over him, with Corran at her side. She was sitting down in the chair besides his bed, her hands folded in her lap “Hello Keith...I hope you are feeling better..” Her teal eyes looked down at the sleeping form, Corran cheerfully piping up “Oh yes! We all hope that soon you will be taken to one of the cryo-replenishers, and that silly medicine will no longer be affecting you so much!”

        Being reminded of her friends allergic reaction, Allura looked down sadly “Yes, hopefully that medicine will stop hurting you so much...but it is a persistent one meant for Alteans...so I am unsure on who long it will last in your bloodstream..” Her hands curled into fists, a wave of sadness and guilt washing over her. Corran noticed the shift in the princess’s mood, asking worried “Princess?” Allura quickly shook her head, wiping away some tears that had formed “I’m sorry Corran. Can you please give me a moment alone..” The male Altean studied his princess for a moment, before he nodded, stepping out of the room to leave her alone,

        Once Corran had left the room, the door closing behind him. Allura looked over at Keith, whispering softly “I’m sorry Keith...I should have noticed the trap that was there before I had sent you and the others down there. Had I known that there were so many there, I wouldn’t have let you go...It’s all my fault you got hurt!” She covered her faces with her hands as her shoulders shook, needing to release the tears that she had been holding back from the others.

        She cried for a little while, but soon after she dried her tears, she looked over at Keith’s resting face, wondering what he would have said to her if he had seen her cry. Thinking about it, he probably would have said something along the lines of “There was nothing you could do about it. No one can see into the future so what happens happens and the wounds we receive are only parts of a bad past. So stop crying and focus on the present.” A small spread across her lips. It did sound like something he would say. Despite being so stubborn he did care for the team.

        Allura felt a small sigh escape her lips as the smile vanished, the altean princess sadly confessing “I told everyone that you were more than likely were dead on the planet...I didn’t tell them that I had actually thought you had...that you had betrayed the team..” She pulled her gaze away from his face, focusing on her hands now “The hate I have for the Galra just...made me think of the worst since you’re part Galra...I know I shouldn't but I doubted your alliance to this team..I see now I was just a fool, but why can I not stop thinking that one day you might betray us..”

        The Princess shook her head “It is something that I wonder at night you know...can you be trusted as a paladin...yet I know who you are, so why? Why do I keep thinking the worst about you...before anyone even knew about your blood we were just fine, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind about what you would do to protect this team. Even during the mission, you showed a loyalty and determination to save everyone. You took the risk that no one else would have been willing to take...so why? Why can I not get past my hate for the blood running through your veins!” She felt like a weight had been taken off of her shoulders, but it did not remove the guilt that she still held.

        Allura was unable to feel the guilt however, since the heart monitor suddenly began beeping rapidly. She looked over at Keith to see him begin to thrash around, and since she hadn’t been paying attention to when the signs came, the princess saw red spread through the bandages, meaning he has torn some of his stitches. Rising to her feet, she called out “Corran! Get the doctor! Keith pulled some of his stitches!” She heard the sound of the altean male race away, so she quickly went to pinning down his arms, whispering to him softly in hopes of relaxing him

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        “Come on Keith! If you keep on struggling like this you’re gonna hurt yourself!” The pleading voice of Pidge filled the room, the smallest paladin struggling herself to keep him pinned. She was using the blankets that covered his legs to help, since her main focus was keeping his arms from moving too much. After a little longer of her talking to him, he finally calmed down, leaving Pidge to return to her chair. It had been another day, with no sign of the Red Paladins health improving, leaving Pidge to watch over him.

        She adjusted the glasses she wore a small bit, before she stared at Keith. The room felt so sad and dark so Pidge being Pidge she tried to lighten to mood some, but couldn’t really figure out the right words to say. So, she leaned back in her chair, pulling the small computer she brought into her lap. There were just a few more calculations needed and Pidge wanted to get them done as quickly as possible. But, when she had opened the laptop, all she did was stare blankly.

        Her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, so she gave up on trying to work since it would mean she could make mistakes and they could not take the chance of mistakes. Her small fingers ran through her short brown hair, a small yawn escaping her lips “Man I’m tired. I’ve been staying up to finish the pods as fast as I can. Which! Good news, they’re close to being finished! So we can get you all hooked up and fast on the road to recovery!” She tried to look happy, but something kept coming to the back of her mind. “Why did you do it Keith..”

        Pidge kept her brown eyes focused on the floor, her hands held in her lap “All I did was make a few calculations and look where it got us...you kept asking of there was any chance for a successful escape, I kept denying it but you were persistent. So, I made some rough calculation and found that there was a ten percent chance for all of us to escape alive and unharmed, barely even a three for one of us alone. The next thing I knew was you were off running into the heat of the battle..using the Red Lion and...giving us the chance to escape..”

        Some tears had come to Pidge’s brown eyes while she spoke, using her sleeve to wipe them away “I shouldn’t have told you, I should have kept it to myself.” Her voice shook some, the Green Paladin whispering “But if I did that...we might not be here right now..” She shook her head, going silent to try and stop the tears that threatened to fall. She heard the door open with Corran’s voice shouting “Pidge! Come on, Hunk managed to finish the last of the repairs so we can get Keith there now!” A spark of hope flared in Pidge’s chest as she leapt to her feet, saying to her friend “Hear that Keith! It’s time for you to get better!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        Finally, with the Cryo-Replenishers finished, Keith was on the road of recovery. But doubt still lingered in team voltron, for the Red Lion had not shown any sign of being responsive, still laying where it had been left by Shiro and the Black Lion.

        The Black Paladin slowly approved the pod where Keith rested, Shiro’s eyes watching his younger brothers face. “Well Keith,” He said, placing his hand on the cool glass “You’re in here now, so you can finally get better...right?” Though he knew he would not get a response, Shiro still whispered “You have to...you can’t leave us like this Keith. You might be okay with dying like this but I’m not!” His hand slowly curled into a fist as it pushed against the glass ever so slightly. “You can’t….die Keith..” With his back turned, he didn’t see who was approaching but after listening to their footsteps, he knew it was Pidge. The young paladin softly said “Shiro?”

        Shiro let his hand fall to his side as he turned to face Pidge, looking at her “Yes?” “I just wanted to make sure you were okay..” Hearing her say that made his heart clench in his chest, but he needed to stay strong “Yeah, yeah no I’m fine, just…” He looked back at the pod “Just checking on him..” Pidge gave him the look that told him he didn’t fool her, looking away to avoid her gaze “Keith isn’t going to die Shiro...trust me if he dies, I’ll kick his butt.” A chuckle came from Shiro after hearing this, walking over and placing a hand on her head “I wouldn’t doubt it. Come on, let’s leave him be.” The two paladins turned their backs to Keith, leaving the Red Paladin alone to heal so that he could return to his family.

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        One week had passed with Keith’s date of being fully recovered unknown. During that week, the entire team decided that they were tired of doing nothing so they all decided to clean up the Red Lion. It is what they were doing at the current moment, each person armed with a bucket and a sponge. The Lions eyes had been black as it laid there, giving the team a slightly easier time cleaning it. However, the eyes suddenly lit up, flashing a bright yellow color. It didn’t stand but when Shiro saw the eyes glow once again, he knew what it ment.

        He turned and took off running down the halls of the castle at a full sprint. He didn’t care that his muscles burned in protests, he needed to get to him. He of course heard the rest of the team following him, but he was focused on getting the the pods. Entering the large room, he went straight to Keith’s pod, watching the door hiss for a second before opening. The Red Paladin slumped forward into Shiro’s arms, Shiro instantly holding him close in a hug. He was almost scared that if he let go Keith would not be okay, but that worry disappeared when he heard “Sh..Shiro?”

        A large sigh of relief swept across all of Team Voltron, Shiro looking down at Keith, still holding him close in the hug “It’s okay Keith, you’re safe…” “What..happened?” Keith’s question only received a small laugh in response “I’ll tell you later Keith...for now, just...welcome back.”

**~Extra~**

        “Wait, so you’re telling me that Lance, Lance that insults me all the time, actually was worried about me!?” Keith looked around at his team in total shock, Lance looking frustrated as Pidge snickered “Yup! He volunteered to watch you first and I passed by as he had a really nice heart to heart with himself.” Lance, having enough of being talked about, exclaimed “Hey! At least I didn’t cry when I was with him like you or the princess did!” His comment sparked a large argument of everyone denying what the others apparently heard, leaving Keith sitting confused. But, a small smile did spread across his lips, watching his family and knowing that if he had to, he would do anything to keep them safe, even if he had to go through that hell again.


End file.
